In this second volume dedicated to the
Indianapolis Country blues, there are four more excellent titles (not in any LP
under their names) by J.T. Adams and
Shirley Griffith (1908-74), a
welcome add to their legacy.

Pete Franklin (Edward Lamonte Franklin) (1928-75) was born in
Indianapolis and knew quite well Scrapper Blackwell, learning to play guitar
and piano. In the 40's, Pete went to Chicago to try his luck, recorded four
titles for Victor in 1949, played also in the studio behind Jazz Gillum, Saint
Louis Jimmy, John Brim or Sunnlyand Slim. But tired of the hectic Chicago life,
he went back to Indianapolis where he played the blues only for house parties
and friends. "Discovered" by Art Rosenbaum, he waxed a good Bluesville
LP and three more titles. Those three are featured here.

Bertha Lee Jones and James
Easley are also part time blues musicians that gravitated around Blackwell
et al.

James Yank Rachell (1910-97) is certainly not a representative of
the "Indiana Country blues" style, becoming just a resident of this
town during the war years. Yank is mostly well known for being a major force
behind the Brownsville blues of his friend Sleepy John Estes with whom he
played and recorded extensively. He is also renowned as one of the few blues
mandolin players. But Yank has also been an important figure of the then
emerging Chicago blues bands. The records he made in 1941 with John Lee
"Sonny Boy" Williamson with intertwining guitar and harmonica, a
strong rhythm anticipate what Muddy and Little Walter will do later on. Some of
his compositions like Ludella, Hobo blues or Army man blues will become
classics after the war when recorded by others like Jimmy Rogers or John Lee
Hooker. But his sessions featured here are much more in the Brownville blues of
his youth and are full of deep blues feeling.

Before the war, Indianapolis had a quite
strong blues scene but only two major figures, piano man Leroy Carr et ace
guitarist Francis "Scrapper"
Blackwell. When a local storeowner and producer, Mr Guernsey teamed the two
bluesmen, he not only created a powerful duo but invented a formula (piano and
guitar together) that in many ways launched what can be called "urban
prewar blues".

But in the 1940's, even
if the black sections were flooded with new migrants from nearby States like
Kentucky who played and sang their blues, Indianapolis, lacking any recording studio,
was no longer featured on the map of the blues.

It took the end of the
1950's and Art Rosenbaum, a young folk and blues fan who came to live in
Indianapolis in 1947, to "rediscover" Scrapper Blackwell who was
still playing his old blues style for house parties and friends. He had
aggregated around him quite a handful of Country bluesmen that very fortunately
Rosenbaum recorded between 1959 and 1962. But those blues records are very hard
to find, most having never been reissued in any form and having sold very
poorly.

Shirley Griffith

In this volume 1, we
found the singer Brooks Berry (born
in Sturgis, Ky on march 1915). As she settled in Indianapolis with her mother,
she befriended with Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell and went to see and hear
them each time she could (very often cheating upon her real birthdate!). During
the 40's and 50's, she was quite often singing accompanied by her friend Blackwell,
whether on the guitar or the piano. But it was mainly a hobby for her for she
had to make a meagre living as a housekeeper. Although reluctant, she nevertheless
waxed two gripping sessions in 1959 and 1961, appeared in a few college
campuses and folk clubs but gave up the blues when her friend Scrapper was tragically
murdered on october 6th, 1962. We don't know what happened to her after that.

Singer and guitarist John Tyler (J.T.) Adams is another
quite obscure name. Born in Morganfield, Ky on February, 17th, 1911, he learned
the blues with his father who was a name in the local juke joints. J.T. came to
Indianapolis in 1941, working at Chrysler's and playing the blues in the local
clubs and parties. He also befriended with Blackwell but, being already an
accomplished blues guitarist, he wasn't as strongly influenced by the local
maestro than the others. But thanks again to Scrapper, he recorded some sides
accompanied by another excellent local guitarist Shirley Griffith (1908-1974). Their two guitars intertwine each
other brilliantly, giving an excellent but unfortunately only session. We don't
know what happened to J.T. Adams after these recordings.

Griffith recorded two more
superb LP's under his name that never resurfaced in the digital era. But you now
can hear them on the first rate blog Don't ask me...

All your comments and
feedbacks are most welcomed. If possible, I'll try to make a volume 2 of more
Indianapolis blues!